cpu overheating. need help!

Hey all, back in April i finished building my first ever gaming pc. did it over the course of a few months, but once it was finished, it was great. i'm having an issue lately with the cpu getting extremely hot for some reason.

this is what i'm running and idle temps

Corsair Bulldog

Operating System

Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

CPU

Intel Core i5 6600K @ 3.50GHz 43 °C

Skylake 14nm Technology

RAM

16.0GB Dual-Channel Unknown @ 1066MHz (15-15-15-36)

Motherboard

Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. Z170N-WIFI-CF (U3E1) 28 °C

Graphics

ELEFT426 (1920x1080@60Hz)

2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (EVGA) 33 °C

fan speeds are around 2100, graphics never really gets hot, just the cpu. if i'm playing CSGO, it'll get as hot as 90-92C. It wont effect anything, still run at 230-290fps without any drop outs, but if i'm trying to play a more demanding game like rust, it can run up to 95c and i do drop fps down to 40ish and get some lag.

as of now, i'm using the corsair low pro liquid cooling system. ran the system with the top off to make sure fans are all working proper and they are. i removed thermal paste and applied a new better quality one, cleaned fans, and its still running hot. any1 have any suggestions for me on what could be going on?

Did you use software to "auto-overclock" your CPU? If so, maybe there's a bit too much voltage going through it. Also, check to make sure that your Corsair liquid cooler pump is connected to the mobo. You can also try loading optimal defaults for your BIOS and see if that helps. Other than that, see what your CPU usage at idle is. Might be something running in the background, virus, or something else that is just pegging your CPU to run maxed out.

i didnt use anything that i know of to auto overclock. where would i be able to find that out? and cpu usage at idle is only 3% (with just chrome open)

just went into BIOS, not auto overclocked/overclocked. and as far as the liquid cooler, i verified its connected cuz the fan is working on it.

1. What is the radiator space on that CPU cooler? Is it a single 120mm and what speed are the fans running at? What speed is the pump running at? Have you cleaned the radiator and is the pump making any noises?

2. Download and open HWMonitor by CPUID. Go down to the temperature monitors for CPU and find your minimum temperature. Run a CPU stress test. Two things to look for:

Is your current and maximum temperature rapidly switching between the two? (It keeps bouncing from 40 to 80C rapidly)

How long does it take to reach maximum temperature?

Is your computer in a well ventilated area?

Weirdest people ...!!

@wizard:

Its a corsair low pro liquid cooliny system. Has a single 120 mm exhaust and fan speed is about 2200 rpm. I cleaned out when i opened and redid thermal paste a few days ago. Couldnt tell if the pump was making noise, but fan was def working.

If im on the web, watching shows through netflix/wwe network/hulu, it slowly goes up to 50c, 55c max. If i go to a game, even a less demanding like CS, itll go to 90c within minutes. Once i exit the game, it takes about 30 seconds and its back down to 60s.

And yes, computer is in the open on top of a tv stand. Even tried running with the top removed, no help

Sounds like the pump isnt working correctly or not at all. I would disconnect the fan for the radiator and see if you can hear the pump at all.

That's one of the reasons why I dont like AiO liquid coolers if pump goes you have no real way to cool the cpu. At least with a aircooler you still have passive cooling if a fan dies. I remember when I had my Phenom 2 X4 955 with a Cooler Master V8 cooler, when the fan died cpu temp only went up a few degrees C and still had better temps than stock cooler.

I can confirm this as the likely case. I had an h110i or h115 or whatever (280mm). The pump died and I rma'd for a new one. But it seems as though you, op, know what you are doing to a degree if you put paste on. I'm assuming you did a good job on the paste? Anyways...sounds like the pump. Some cpus run crazy hot (my 4790k blows in terms of thermals...even 280mm cooler it still gets close to 80c, though my house in the summer is 80f). But yeah, getting into the 90s without any overclocking sounds like a cooling failure...likely the pump. Is there much heat coming out from the radiator? If not, like it's just "warm," and not very warm, that liquid is just getting super hot and not circulating through the pipe. Good luck.

@metspride129: What is the reported pump speed? Also how much paste did you put on and did you tighten the contacts enough? All things to check.

Im honestly new at all this, 1st ever build ive done. Im learning as i go and watching hours and hours of how to videos and doing a lot of reading and research. And i feel like the pump is prob not doing what it should be, which is why its overheating. The fan and exhaust are def working, but i feel its the liquid cooling thats not doing its thing.

For the thermal paste, carefully cleaned all the old off with alcohol and a no lint cloth and put a pea size amount dead center and carefully lowered the copper HS thats attatched to the liquid cooler and tightened the bolts in an X pattern. Actually thought i messed it up cuz it was still running hot so i removed the paste and did it again lol.

Guess ill be looking into a new cooling system. Should i go with another low profile liquid system or just get something else?

should the radiator from the closed loop water cooling system be blowing cool or hot air out of the back? also, any1 know how to check the pump speed? i put my ear up to it, and honestly cant tell if its working or not. it hear something, just dont have enough experiance to know if its a pump or a fan or what making the noise

Your closed unit should have a "fan" wire that's actually to your pump...it most likely just has 1 actual wire on it, and it plugs into a fan header. You can use bios/software in windows to check that port and tell the rpm of the pump. If the pump is shot...you'll see 0. Because it's not spinning. If that's the case, rma/get a new cooler.

@metspride129: Moved to Hardware forum

Apply new thermal paste, make sure it's mounted firmly, your idle and load temps should be lower.

If reapplying thermal paste and re-seating the bracket won't help you should RMA it.

@demi0227_basic:

The fan is def working, its a closed loop liquid cooler, not sure how to tell if water is pumping through correctly.

@PredatorRules:

Already removed and reapplied thermal paste 2x and made sure all tight. What is RMA?

@metspride129:

RMA is return merchandise authorization, which means you contact the place you purchased the item if its within an amount of time that's allowed and you return the item for a replacement or refund. Now if the time period for you to be able to return the item is past due then you go through the manufacturer when its still under warranty.

Check airflow inside case and re apply thermal compound on CPU heatsink. If you still getting high temps switch out CPU cooler.

No, no no. What I was saying is there is a "fan" header that's really just a single wire (it should come from the bundle where sata *power connection is...pump is on the cpu block) and it LOOKS like a fan wire, but it's just a tachometer wire so you measure the actual pump speed itself. Sorry if that's confusing...and perhaps your Corsair unit doesn't have it, but all the Corsair lcs I've seen had that. So it looks just like a wire coming out from a fan, but it's for the pump itself so you can read the rpms on it. Perhaps your unit doesn't have that, but I thought I'd clarify.